Ark in the Park

Donkeys with their own sand paddock, a garden race track and opportunities to watch animal-care visits give Ark in the Park a recognisable character. Delilah and Dotty live at the bottom of the garden, where accompanied children can help care for them or watch from beyond the fence. For a child interested in animals, this brings living things into the nursery day rather than reserving them for an occasional trip.

This family-run nursery is at 20 Keyberry Park, Newton Abbot, TQ12 1BZ. Its rooms span babyhood through the preschool years, with Junior Crocodiles and Junior Butterflies serving children aged three to four. At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received effective support.

Attendance is across the year rather than term-time only. The outdoor setting is a strong reason to consider it, alongside an important qualification: the September 2022 improvement actions called for clearer leadership across all rooms, particularly the Big Baby Room, and more consistent meaningful interaction in that room.

Rooms and Ages

Five rooms divide the age range: Babies covers birth to 14 months; Big Babies takes children from 14 months to two years; Toddlers serves two- to three-year-olds; and Junior Crocodiles and Junior Butterflies each serve three- to four-year-olds. The two preschool room names help families understand the nursery's organisation, while the younger age bands make clear where a baby begins and the stages that follow.

Outside, a separate area for young babies keeps their play apart from the movement of scooters and other small vehicles. Elsewhere, artificial turf and a tarmac track provide different surfaces for active play. An oak tree and gazebos provide shade, and the garden is used throughout the year. Spare clothing and weather-appropriate kit belong in the nursery bag: getting wet and muddy is an expected part of the day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the shared framework for learning and care, with children developing through play across its areas of learning. Ark builds its planning around individual children's interests, then adjusts activities and resources as those interests develop. This makes the child's own curiosity a starting point for teaching, rather than treating every activity as a fixed exercise.

The curriculum connects movement with growing independence. Ball play, balancing, bike riding and scooter use sit alongside work on hand control and early mark-making. Books and rhymes have a clear place too: children revisit familiar language, retell stories and bring them into imaginative play. Mathematical ideas enter everyday activity through comparison, shape, pattern and the language of measurement.

Emotional language is another explicit strand. Children are helped to name feelings and develop ways of responding when emotions become overwhelming, with support from their key person. Exploring plants, small creatures and seasonal change gives curiosity something concrete to work on. These are practical curriculum intentions, with activities that parents can recognise and discuss with staff.

In September 2022, children's interest in collected leaves led to painting activities, linking creative work with their immediate surroundings. That example captures the relationship between children's discoveries and adult planning. The same month's improvement actions called for clearer leadership across all rooms, particularly the Big Baby Room, and more consistent meaningful interaction in that room, where learning opportunities were being missed. The character of the activities matters, but so does the adult attention that helps children extend them.

Outdoor and Community Life

Delilah and Dotty have a barn as well as their sand paddock. Children can visit with an adult, stroke animals through the fence or simply observe. Regular visits by the farrier and animal dentist offer another way to see care in action, for children who want to watch. The choice to observe rather than participate is useful for those who are less comfortable close to animals.

Community experiences extend beyond the garden. The daily additional-services package includes outings to the library, museum, Decoy and nearby parks, alongside weekly French lessons. These add another language and different local settings to the nursery experience; the outings have no stated weekly frequency.

In September 2022, children had worked with the Decoy Rangers on tree planting and tidying a local park. The activity gave helping others a tangible form: children were contributing to a place they used, rather than only talking about looking after their community.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person responsible for personal care, observations and assessments. Parents share interests, worries, preferences and areas where their child needs help, which then inform individual activities. This gives families a defined relationship through which to explain their child, rather than relying on information reaching whichever adult happens to be nearby.

Continuity also shapes staffing: children are cared for by familiar staff, while getting to recognise adults beyond their own group before moving rooms. The team includes nursery nurses and assistants working towards qualifications. Familiarity across the nursery can make a room move less abrupt, although the youngest children's experience still depends on how their own room is led.

Two parent evenings each year provide time to look at children's work and planning, speak with practitioners and meet staff from the next room. Daily home books for under-twos, learning journeys and access to the Famly app form part of the additional-services package. Parents therefore have both face-to-face opportunities and written or digital ways to follow their child's experience.

Settling begins with a complimentary introductory session, with further short sessions offered without charge when needed. Parents may remain while their child settles, and staff contact families if a child stays distressed despite attempts to comfort them. That last point has a practical consequence for returning to work: parents need scope to respond to an early collection, rather than assuming the first sessions will follow the eventual routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENDCO coordinates individual education plans, supports staff and works with visiting professionals. Meetings with parents provide a route for discussing progress, while contact with external early-years advisers can bring additional guidance into planning. For children moving to school with special educational needs, a transition document is provided and a teacher can visit when requested.

There are material conditions around more intensive support. Where one-to-one help is needed, the nursery requires local-authority funding to be arranged before starting; specialist equipment also needs discussion because storage and space have limits. Families should read this as a planning requirement, rather than a general promise that every level of need can be accommodated.

Behaviour support is intended to respond to the individual child. Staff work with parents to identify causes and patterns, and repeated difficulties can lead to advice from an early-years consultant or Nursery Plus, an outside source of professional help. The policy includes naming feelings, helping children calm down and explaining how their actions affect others. It rules out physical punishment and time-out as routine responses.

The chef prepares homemade lunches and caters for vegetarian, vegan and allergy-related diets; breakfast, fruit snacks and tea are also provided. The nursery's nut-free policy asks families to keep food from home out of the setting, while its dietary procedure uses labelled, red-rimmed crockery and red cups to distinguish meals and drinks for children with dietary requirements.

Sessions and Attendance

Ark operates year-round and does not offer term-time-only care. Bank holidays and a two-week Christmas and New Year closure are exceptions to its usual operation. This is an important distinction for families whose working year follows school terms: the attendance arrangement continues beyond those terms.

Admissions are handled through an application followed by written confirmation. Payments associated with joining include a retainer, an administration charge and a deposit towards final fees. The retainer is credited when the child starts, but can be retained if the family does not attend on the agreed dates. Withdrawal requires one month's written notice, with fees due for that final month whether the child attends or not.

The admissions email is admissions@arkinthepark.co.uk, and the nursery can also be contacted on 01626 324800. Fees remain payable during ordinary illness-related absence. That makes the written terms relevant to the household budget as well as to the initial booking.

Funding and Paid Extras

Working-entitlement funding is offered from the term after an eligible child reaches nine months. The charging policy applies 22 stretched hours each week across 51 weeks to eligible under-fives, following the extension introduced in September 2025. Additional hours are paid privately. Families receive current prices in the nursery's written quotation.

Funded hours and the additional-services package are separate. Meals and snacks carry an additional charge, as do care-package items including wipes, nappies and sun cream. The package also covers communication tools and activities such as French lessons and trips. These costs need to be considered alongside any private hours, rather than treating funded attendance as covering every part of the nursery day.

• Room leadership and baby-room practice. September 2022 improvement actions called for clearer leadership across all rooms, particularly the Big Baby Room, and more consistent meaningful adult interaction in that room. During a visit, ask how practitioners are supported to extend babies' play and communication now.
• Accommodation and outdoor work. Descriptions of the period house and temporary rooms remain inconsistent; the deck extension is under construction. Ask which accommodation your child will use and which outdoor areas are complete.
• Intensive SEND support. One-to-one provision depends on funding being in place, and specialist equipment needs advance discussion. Families needing either should establish the arrangements before agreeing a start.
• Dietary arrangements. A nut-free policy and separately identified meals are part of the nursery's procedures. Families managing allergies should confirm current handling and their child's individual plan.

Animals, substantial outdoor play and a curriculum grounded in children's interests give Ark in the Park clear appeal. It suits families seeking year-round attendance who want movement, local outings and animal care to be part of nursery life. Key-person planning and several routes for parent communication add practical substance to that offer.

The September 2022 Good judgement is useful context, but the leadership action across all rooms deserves attention, alongside the interaction concerns in the Big Baby Room for families choosing care for younger children. Establishing the current room arrangements, support practice and full charge structure will make the decision more concrete.